By Fr. John Brobbey
It is forty days after Christmas, and we interrupt the ordinary Sunday cycle to celebrate the PRESENTATION OF THE LORD – Presenting the Present. Luke combines two distinct prescriptions of the Jewish law.
In Exodus 13:1 and 13:11-16, all first-born males, both animal and human, belonged to the Lord and had to be “redeemed”, that is, bought back from the Lord through a sum paid to the Temple. While the sum could simply be forwarded, physically bringing the child to the Temple was not required.
What did require presence in the Temple was another rite: the purification of the mother 40 days after childbirth, as laid down in Leviticus 12:1-8. On this occasion, an offering was made in the case of the poor, as Luke notes, the offering was “a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.”
The two rituals mean that, in the person of the infant Jesus, ‘the Lord’ suddenly comes to the Temple, as the prophecy from Malachi, (Mal. 3:1-4) foretold. In Malachi’s account, the coming of the Lord to the Temple will be a terrifying event involving a rigorous purification of Temple worship and restitution of offerings ‘pleasing to the Lord’.
By contrast, Luke highlights the very different mode in which ‘the Lord’ in the person of Jesus actually comes to his Temple: not as a terrifying judge but as an infant member of a simple human family. In obedience to the prescriptions of the Law, this family makes the offering of the poor.
Such is the love of our God. Such is the humility of the Holy Family. They submitted to the law even though they were not bound by it. Let us be inspired by their example and stay humble!